Twin Peaks gets “Psych”ed – The Best Twin Peaks Tribute EVER

Psych: The Complete Fifth Season (Universal)

James Roday and Dule Hill are back as Shawn (the fake psychic detective) and Gus (the best friend and frustrated sidekick) in the comic mystery series on USA, a show that (in its own, cheeky way) anticipated shows like “The Mentalist.” (Fake psychic. Real detective. Indeed.) Roday has a tendency to push flamboyant grandstanding to the point of annoying, but his chemistry with sardonic straight man and closet nerd Hill is terrific and responsible for the funniest moments of the show, and it’s nice to see him in love. Tim Omundson, Maggie Lawson and Kirsten Nelson co-star as the cops and Corbin Bernsen is Gus’s father, reluctantly keeping the secret of his fake psychic abilities.

But the fifth season stands out for one transcendent episode: “Dual Spires,” an inventively produced riff on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, complete with a score seeped in Angelo Badalementi romantic overkill, a theme song reimagined by Julee Cruise and a half dozen veterans of the show (including Sherilyn Fenn, Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Dana Ashbrook and one-shot gag by “Log Lady” Catherine E. Coulson) shuffled through various roles in this marvelously imaginative parody of the show. Series star James Roday was a big fan of Twin Peaks—he originally pitched the script back in the show’s first season—and he scripts the episode with both loving affection and a “Psych” sensibility of pop-culture riffs and smart-alecky byplay. The “Super Extended Version” on the disc adds ten minutes of scenes, all packed with “Peak”-love and goofy humor. Damn fine cup of Psych!

Author: seanax

I write the weekly newspaper column Stream On Demand and the companion website (www.streamondemandathome.com). I’m a contributing writer for Turner Classic Movies Online, Keyframe, Independent Lens, and Cinephiled, and the editor of Parallax View (www.parallax-view.org).. I’ve written for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Weekly, GreenCine.com, Senses of Cinema, Asian Cult Cinema, and Psychotronic Video, among other publications, and I am a contributing editor to Parallax View.

I currently live and work in Seattle, Washington, with my two cats, Hammet and Chandler.